You're being lied to about Fair Districts

June 13, 2010|By Scott Maxwell, TAKING NAMES

Politics is full of lies.

However, rarely is a lie so provably debunked as the one that opponents of Fair Districts are spreading.

It's been told in many fashions. But basically, defenders of gerrymandering are trying to con you into believing that the only people pushing for Fair Districts are Democrats and liberal sympathizers who want to wrest control away from Republicans.

It's a flat-out lie.

Politics may be full of double-talking hypocrites. But the media has been consistent on this topic for decades.

In fact, Florida newspapers used to blast Democrats back when they were the majority and gerrymandering with reckless abandon.

In 1993, this newspaper described the Democrats' own version of a redistricting scam as "a spectacle of self-serving politicians protecting their turf or carving out congressional districts where they could win."

Other papers did the same thing, such as the St. Petersburg Times, which also called for widespread change.

You see, just because the politicians are disingenuous self-serving hypocrites doesn't mean we are.

Well, at least not on this point.

The truth is that politicians from both parties have been drunk on power for as long as they've had it.

Whichever party has control stacks the deck by creating districts that snake through the state, encompassing precisely the kind of partisan voters that will keep them in office.

And why Republican John Mica lives in Winter Park, yet has to drive more than 100 miles to his district office in St. Augustine.

Their scheme works with amazing success at the state level too.

Instead of voters picking their candidates, the politicians pick their voters.

And you're denied true choices at the polls.

As proof, Fair Districts supporters note that, in more than 400 legislative races over the past six years, only three incumbents have been ousted from office.

That simply defies reason.

And the entire process undermines the very foundation of our Democracy.

The Fair District amendments — Nos. 5 and 6 on this year's ballot — seek to fix that by forcing legislators to create compact districts that make geographic sense. No longer would politicians be able to use party affiliation as a rationale to split neighborhoods in two.

It would simply bring common sense and equity to the process … which is the last thing these career hacks want.

That's why they tried to block you from ever getting a chance to vote on the amendments. And when that failed, they went nuclear, adding their own scam of an amendment to the mix.

Basically, after hundreds of thousands of frustrated Floridians mounted a grassroots petition effort to put Fair District Amendments No. 5 and 6 on the ballot, legislators decided to sneak through another amendment without asking anyone. This is the devious No. 7 amendment – which, if passed, would essentially nullify Nos. 5 and 6 by allowing lawmakers to continue hand-picking voters, no matter what else happens.

Legislators are hoping you're too dumb to figure this out.

They're also trying to con you into thinking this is a partisan battle between Republicans and Democrats.

It is not.

Oh, there are two sides to this issue.

But they aren't liberal vs. conservative.

They are good government vs. bad.

Fair elections vs. orchestrated shams.

Needed change vs. the status quo.

That's why newspapers and government watchdogs have been quite consistent on this point — regardless of which party is in control.